I came across the black and white photo of
the demolition of the Ancon Post Office below today and thought this
might be an interesting "Photo of the Week". I added an
old post card image of the old post office which was taken many years
prior to it's demolition when you see the old cars. Picture this
area and 4th of July Avenue today.

According to documentation I have, Ancon
Post Office was in business from 6/24/04 - 12/31/56. The Ancon Post
Office was not in this cement building from 1904. The original post office
was in a an old wooden tropical type housing building with a large screen
porch. It could very well have been the building shown next to the
post office on the left in the colorized post card, but it that building actually
looks like the typical duplex housing seen all over the Zone. The
old wooden building Ancon Post Office was replaced with the more modern
concrete structure shown here in 1939.

The closing of Ancon post office on January
1, 1956, was announced by Gov. W. E. Potter at a town meeting held in
Diablo Heights. This closing reduced the number of Canal Zone post
offices to three that have maintained uninterrupted operation since June
24, 1904. During the town meeting Governor Potter announced that the
decision to close the Ancon post office was made after and extensive survey
of the Canal Zone postal system.

Upon closure on January 1, 1956, no decision
was made yet as to what use will be made of the of post office building
after postal operations cease.

I have no information as to what the
building was used for until the Thatcher Ferry Bridge construction began
and widening of 4th of July Avenue began.

The black and white photo below is from an
unknown date, but the caption of the photo states, "Ancon Post Office
was demolished and the Ancon School play shed behind the crane will have
to be moved to make way for additional work on the street approach to the
new bridge". It is evident that this demolition took place
during the construction of the Thatcher Ferry Bridge and road widening of
4th of July Avenue.